Steelers Awarded Fifth Round Compensatory Pick In 2009 NFL Draft

Today the NFL awarded a fifth-round compensatory pick to the Steelers for the upcoming 2009 April draft. They were awrarded the compensatory pick for losing guard Alan Faneca and linebacker Clark Haggans to free agency last year while only adding running back Mewelde Moore via free agency. The pick will come at the end of the fifth round and should in essence give the Steelers back to back picks in that round. That now means that the Steelers will have a total of nine draft picks as they received a seventh round pick for the trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that involved offensive lineman Sean Mahan. There was speculation that the Steelers were to receive a third round compensatory draft pick, but that did not happen based on the criteria the NFL uses in it\’s compensatory formula.